I joined Prime and don't regret it for a second. It's already almost paid for itself and the two day (free) option has worked flawlessly so far. Just to see if I could do it, I ordered a $1.50 paperback from them and sure enough, it came two day air.
I like Amazon because they don't charge me sales tax and because they carry some of everything. I am buying a lot more than books these days from them.
In fact, my g/f bought a Dyson vacuum using my account and the $399 machine shipped with no sales tax and came two day air.
Good enough for me.